This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
1. Technical Field
The invention relates to a device for registering goods at a self-service cash register system.
2. Discussion
Devices of this kind are used to register goods selected by a customer in a self-service department store. Registration is designed to proceed automatically in order to dispense with the presence of a cashier when the goods are paid for. The process by which the customer registers and pays for the goods he/she has selected without requiring the presence of a cashier is known as self-checkout. The goods are registered with or without the assistance of the customer, and the sales price for the goods registered is calculated. The customer then pays for his/her purchase in cash or with a card directly at the self-service cash register system. The goods are furnished with a machine-readable label or a machine-readable code. The label or the code is, for example, a one-dimensional, two-dimensional or other multi-dimensional bar code. The machine-readable label includes the price of the goods. The customer places the goods he/she has selected on a conveying device, for example a conveyor belt. One or more stationary scanning devices are located at the conveying device to register the label on the goods. The scanning device consists of several scanning units. Each scanning unit is furnished with a source for emitting optical radiation and with a detector for receiving the radiation reflected by the goods lying on the conveying device. The optical radiation is typically light in the visible spectrum or in the infrared spectrum. By means of a reflected pattern, the scanning unit generates a scanning pattern that is reproduced on the goods, registered and reflected by the goods. The scanning unit further generates a signal corresponding to the reflected radiation. Scanning units of this type are known as bar code readers or scanners. They are frequently known as laser scanner modules. They convert the optically scanned, machine-readable label into electrical signals that are entered in digital form as input variables into a data processing unit of a self-service cash register system.
Devices for registering goods at a self-service cash register system are customarily furnished with scanning devices using several scanning units that are arranged at different positions at and above the conveying device. Such devices are also described as tunnel scanners. In this case, the individual scanning units are arranged in a locally fixed manner along a gateway extending above the conveying direction. The goods lying on the conveying device are conveyed past the scanning units. As the goods pass said units, the scanning units register the surfaces of the goods from different directions.
Since most goods are furnished with a label at only one location, and a probability exists that cannot be ignored for the customer to place the goods on the conveyor belt with the side showing the label facing down, scanning from below is necessary in addition to scanning the goods from above and from the side to register the goods reliably. A device for registering goods at a self-service cash register system is known from DE 102006054115 A1 that is furnished with a conveyor belt and drivers running perpendicular to the conveyor belt for this purpose. The drivers are moved in the conveying direction above the conveyor belt and a scanning device. They pull or push the goods over the scanning device.